The first line cannot have a leading comma resulting in inconsistency then too.

That's for where the language parser allows you to have have leading commas i.e line continuations without a trailing comma.

And some, amusingly, don't.

You’re clearly missing the entire point. The mismatched number of commas in either orientation requires you to alter unrelated fields when making modifications.

I rarely change the beginning of the query more likely the end.